Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. Bakersfield Condors

UPDATE: Devin Shore was recalled to the Dallas Stars this morning. The Stars have an extra forward to enter the lineup but will probably look to recall someone from Idaho this week.

Both Texas and Bakersfield got a night off last night as the two gear up for the second of the a two game set this weekend with Sunday afternoon's game.

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

In many seasons you would probably have seen the Condors head to San Antonio for a Saturday matchup with the Rampage. Aside from the fact that San Antonio isn't at home at the moment, those sort of 3-in-3s aren't as necessary for the California-based teams, who get to play eight fewer games than the Stars and the rest of the AHL.

Having now seen them in game action for the first time, Coach Laxdal assessed the Condors as being very similar to the Barons last year and before, using speed and size to wear down teams over the course of sixty minutes.

"They're a very mobile team and they skate well. Big, heavy forwards up front they're trying to develop in Khaira, Yakimov, Kessy and Moroz. But they're backend is [also] very mobile with LaLeggia and Hunt. They've got some great speed there. As the game went along, we went down to three lines. We got a little more mentally and physically tired."

Some statistical notes: Devin Shore has been passed on total scoring by several Eastern Conference players and now sits 5th in the league (8-3=11). With Travis Morin's excellent night on Friday (1-2=3), he now sits in 9th in league scoring with 3-7=10. Ben Street is the only other Western Conference player in the top 10.

The Stars will look to shore up their penalty killing tonight and concentrate on it further in practice this week. Friday's 2-for-4 performance put them at 76.7% (26th). Devin Shore indicated that the statistics may not be telling the whole story and the team is headed in the right direction. That direction certainly will include giving opponents fewer chances to score on the power play via staying out of the box. Coach Laxdal liked the effort compared to the Milwaukee game, but you've got to figure forward Cory Kane is a likely healthy scratch today after taking 3 bad penalties on Friday.

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